The Ohio Attorney General along with forty-four other state Attorneys General, wrote a letter to five telecom companies urging them to make call blocking technology available to consumers. The Ohio Attorney General’s office claimed consumers called their office over 1,400 times to complain about “Do Not Call” violations in 2014 alone, prompting the organization to reach out to AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint and Century Link. Telemarketing and robocalling are a thorn in the side of consumers that has existed for decades, and there have been several attempts by Congress to address this issue for consumers, such as the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

This is not the first time that state Attorneys General have urged telecom companies to offer call blocking technology to consumers. Many of these companies maintained that such technology could potentially violate existing regulations put in place by the FCC. In an attempt to correct this last September, thirty-nine Attorneys General asked the FCC to adopt a clarification to the rules in question. In June 2015, the FCC obliged and noted that call blocking technology is completely legal for these providers to offer.

Dozens of third party apps are already on android and apple devices that offer such a service, which companies such as Verizon have already cited as a reason that no action needs to be taken. However, these apps are not sufficiently popular to stem the massive tide of complaints that consumer protection agencies like the Ohio Attorney General’s office receive on a regular basis. The FCC and Attorneys General encouraged these telecom companies to either work with these third party developers or offer their own call blocking services.

However, companies such as Verizon are concerned that offering such call blocking technology could exacerbate an already present problem known as spoofing. Telemarketing companies, in an attempt to circumvent some of the more popular call blocking technologies that already exist, falsify their caller ID information in order to trick the system into letting a call through. Verizon claims that they get thousands of complaints every year from individuals who had their numbers used in such a manner.

Doucet & Associates has many attorneys who are well versed in consumer law. Most consumers are unaware that there are several protections in the law that can offer them a defense against these annoying and unwarranted phone calls. Laws such as TCPA actually make unwanted telemarketing and robocalls illegal, and the Do Not Call list is much more than just a myth. If your cell phone number has illegally fallen into the hands of telemarketers and you constantly receive these calls, call Doucet & Associates at (614) 944-5219 and find out how we can help you take your number back.

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